


Fallen Leaves on an Unused Road

by SilentSilverRiver



Series: Magical Mishaps [1]
Category: High Hopes Low Rolls (Web Series)
Genre: Circus, Don't copy to another site, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Magic, Magic Leaves, Paddy literally grows leaves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:08:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24691291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilentSilverRiver/pseuds/SilentSilverRiver
Summary: Because magic is perfect but the people using it usually are not.Or:Paddy grows leaves. It’s an . . . unexpected development.
Series: Magical Mishaps [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1785127
Comments: 1
Kudos: 16





	Fallen Leaves on an Unused Road

_ “The first thing that you need to know is that you can almost always tell a magic user from a non-magic user.  _

_ Smell, Touch, Personality, Sight: Somehow, someway, magic will mark you for the rest of your life. It’s a little possessive like that.”  _

The first time Paddy woke up to find leaves woven into his cloak, he was a little irritated. They’d just had a big show at the circus the night before, and he hadn’t gotten to bed until early morning after he’d helped clean the large tent up. 

Of course someone would think it funny to pull a prank on him. Again.  _ Just because  _ he was a wood elf,  _ didn’t mean  _ he lived in a treehouse. He’d grown up in a very respectable home,  _ on the ground _ , thank you very much. 

Though napping in a tree did sound a little entertaining -

No.  _ No.  _ That wasn't the point. 

The point was that someone was being funny and plucking the autumn leaves from the trees and weaving them into the folds of his cloak while he was dead tired. The rest of the crew  _ knew  _ he slept like a rock after a performance, and the night before had been especially exhausting. Adding flickers of illusion magic to backflips and wire running might have been pushing his current abilities a little much. He’d only learned he had an aptitude for magic two weeks ago, when Faith had offered to teach him a few tricks other than jumping from high places. He’d taken to it surprisingly well.

Paddy sighed, rubbed his blurry eyes, and gently untangled the leaves from the cloak. A few of them were surprisingly stubborn, and he winced as they left small holes in the fabric. Come on, this was his  _ only cloak  _ and  _ winter  _ was coming! 

Tugging the last leaf out Paddy held it up in front of him with a frown. It was definitely maple, which was a little surprising since the area they were in didn’t have very many maple trees, but he shook his head and let it go. 

A few of the other circus performers laughed when he walked out of his small sleeping space with leaves in his hair and a few more handfuls in his arms. He made sure to scowl at them as he tossed the leaves out on the side of the road.

He was extra grumpy with them that day, just to get the point across. 

* * *

One week later, it happened again. Except this time there were even  _ more.  _

Paddy blinked slowly down at his cloak and groaned. “This is  _ definitely  _ going to leave holes.”

Orange, yellow, red, every autumn color that an oak leaf could possibly come in littered the fringes of his coat. There were even two along the hood now, as well. They were surprisingly well arranged, he admitted. The reds were farther up, followed by the orange, and then the yellow leaves fluttering about at the bottom of his cloak. 

It might even look nice, if it consistently covered the cloak, rather than leaving odd patches of ragged brown surrounded by color.

“Okay,” Paddy let the cloak drop on the bed, “That’s  _ it.  _ If they are asking for it,  _ they are going to get it.”  _

* * *

The resulting prank war was almost more entertaining than the show at the end of their stay in the small town of Lux. 

Paddy didn’t know who did it, and no one was owning up, so  _ everyone was a target. _

* * *

By the tenth time Paddy plucked leaves from his cloak, he was  _ done.  _

“Okay,” he slammed his hands down on the gambling table where a few of the other performers were playing a game of cards. Wralin, the dragonborn he was standing closest to, actually started slightly as he caught sight of Paddy’s furious face. Which, granted, was probably a smart idea. Finding one's scales died a temporary pink would leave any dragonborn a little weary of invoking his wrath.  _ “Who’s doing it?” _

“Uh . . .” Nook trailed off and glanced around at the others in confusion. There were still feathers stuck in his hair from a prank Paddy had pulled last week, but he must not have been too bothered about it because he hadn’t cared to remove them. “Sorry, Paddy, but you are going to have to be more specific?”

Ingle, his owl, screeched softly and bobbed her head in agreement. 

“The leaves,” Paddy gritted his teeth, “In my cloak.”

The other’s stared blankly.

Wralin actually scooted to the other edge of his chair as the grinding of Paddy’s teeth became audible. 

“I don’t know who it is,” Paddy’s eyes flashed around to all of them, “But it needs to  _ stop. _ Winter is coming soon, and if this continues there’s not going to be enough of my cloak left to make into a  _ handkerchief.” _

The cold, furious tone from the usually outgoing and jovial wood elf seemed to unsettle the other performers more than anything else that he had done recently, and they all glanced back at each other. 

“Uh,” Wralin twitched slightly as he spoke up, glancing nervously at the wood elf looming darkly over their table from the space next to him, “You’re magic. It is very . . . leafy, yeah?”

Paddy focused on him, eyes burrowing into the dragonborn as if searching for his deepest secrets. “Yeah? What about it?”

The dragonborn seemed to come to a conclusion as he nodded decisively. “You’re magic is leafy. Your cloak grows leaves. Makes sense.” 

Paddy’s face slacked slightly. “What?”

“Oh!” Faith, the only one who hadn’t spoken up yet, clapped her hands together, “That’s right! It must have been your magic manifesting its mark on you!”

There was silence for several moments and Paddy stared blankly at them before pulling a slow, “What mark?” through his lips. 

Nook also seemed to be relaxing in relief, “Goodness gracious, lad. You had me slightly terrified there.”

_ “What. Mark.” _

Faith tilted her head slightly, “Ah, did I forget to explain it?” she blushed slightly, the color darkening her cheeks into a deep purple, “All users of magic have some kind of manifestation of their magic. Sometimes it’s personality, or something visually distinguished. I met someone once who actually smelled like a swamp because of their magic. Fact is, magic is a little possessive. The more you use it, the more it claims you back,” she shrugged. “Freckles glow, people become hermits or wanderers, and you grow leaves. It’s not that bad. At least it's sticking to your cloak and not growing out of your hair or socks as well.”

Paddy stood in silence for a moment before he spun on his heel and stalked away. 

He . . . needed some time to think. 

* * *

Paddy stopped plucking his cloak every morning. 

* * *

When the leaves finally stopped growing, almost the entire thing was covered. The back side of the cloak was mostly free of any leaves except for the last hand length to two. Inside was another story. From where it met his shoulders at the top all the way down to the very edge the leaves layered themselves on so thick that it actually made the whole cloak a little fluffy. There wasn’t a speck of brown to be seen. It was almost like they were afraid of being plucked again. 

The hood was a lost cause as well. It  _ poofed.  _ Like, there were so many layers of leaves that the edges tickled his jaw. 

Paddy held the cloak up in front of him, eyeing it critically for a moment. It didn’t  _ look bad,  _ honestly. And at least he could take it off if he wanted to be more stealthy. He didn’t want to know what his magic would do if he’d ditched the cloak. Probably grow leaves on his scarf. 

Yeah, not happening. 

At least his magic had good taste in color. 

With a sigh he swung the cloth over his shoulders. It was getting a little chilly out, and he couldn’t avoid wearing it outside any longer. The leaves swished slightly as they settled into place and he clipped the two sides together and then snuggled down into it. It was surprisingly soft.

And warm. 

Huh, who would have known. 

**Author's Note:**

> This was a cute little idea I had a few days back. It was inspired from that scene in episode one where Paddy is at the circus and you see him with just a couple of leaves decorating the edge of his jacket and I thought “Huh, he discovered magic at the circus, so what if it actually grew the leaves that are on his cloak?”
> 
> So, I wrote this. And then I checked my sources. Paddy had his leafy cloak when he left his hometown, so that threw my little hypothesis out the window. Still wanted to share this, even if it isn’t accurate at all. 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed! Please let me know what you thought! I love feedback.


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